DAIRYING'S DEADLY ENEMY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1083, 23 March 1911, Page 8

DAIRYING'S DEADLY ENEMY.

. AUTHORITIES ON MAMMITIS. In his aunual report, the Chief Inspector of Stock, of New South Wales, speaks ot contagious mammitis as "probably tho deadly ;eiioiny of tho dairying industry. Ho warns, all settlers to bo on their guard against the introduction of..the clisea.se into their herds, "owing to its highly contagious nature, .and alto.to fho tact tliat-no curative .treatment at present holds out any hope of success." 11l the course ot a recent report on the disease an Australian authority said: "As a ru ' e the disease comes on suddenly, the cow coming into milking ono morning and ouo quarter being found -enlarged, somewhat hot and hard. The milk is;at first ■airly normal, but soon. changes into a thickish curdled substance, and later on may change into. pus. The quarter slowly goes back to-something iiko its normal size, but remains hard, cither all over or in one or two isolated areas. In many cases a small nodule will be found at tho top cf the teat, and the duct of the teat can be felt, as a thickened cord if the teat is rubbed between -the fingers. In the majority of cases the cow apparently recovers, except for some chronic lesion of this kind, if properly treated. All cases, however, do not have this apparently satisfactory ending, as they may be extremely acute, the quarter of the udder affecteil being intensely hard and painful; the cow loses her appetite, becomes constipated, hes high fever, aud may die. in -18 hours. acute cases, although serious as Causing so much loss, are • not the main danger that arises from the.chronic cases —cow,® which have'apparently recovered but have some small ; lesion left in -the udder. 'They, are a continual source, of danger to. other , cows, and are liable to suffer another acute attack when they come in with the next .calf.,. Cases ar» not. unknown where cows have had three Or four attacks tit each successive calving, 'and then remained with a chronic lesion. "This .disease is caused by the presence of an organism, a streptococcus in the teat jand udder of the'cattle'.. It. gains ejitranca by the feat, and if.from any-cause the Tidrter, presents a favourable field for I its growth it sets ilp 'the"dissase. Tt is l spread from cow to cow and from unaffected quarter to the, llealthy quarter in the same cow by the hands of the milkers, and'this is especially favoured by the great want of cleanliness On the part of many milkers, and by the objectionable habit of moistening the teats with the .first milk drawn. . . ! Anything which tends to'weaken the .udder/gives the disease a greater chance. An attempt to dry off a cow too quickly,'overstocking, bad milking in not stripping .properly, and Tough treatment of the udder miist all tend .to render it more liable to be affected by this disease. The'ninnner'in which it is spread from herd to herd is usually through the saleyard, as an tinsc-rupuious man, finding cows'affected, tells''them, or an honest man may, quite, innocently put af-' fccted cows into thfe-saleyard owing to the' difficulty of diagnosing certain stacas of the disease. . . . Any man buying milking cows should take care to thoroughly examine the : _udderi before mixing them with the herd," and anything suspicious should ;bo.kept..apaft,'';;